Marquette Overwhelmed By Hot Shooting TCU, 79-54

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MILWAUKEE -- Marquette fell victim to TCU's hot shooting from beyond the three-point arc Friday night as the Golden Eagles lost 79-54 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

TCU tied a Conference USA record by hitting 15 three-pointers. Tricia Payne connected on 7-of-10 three-point attempts for 21 points and led all scorers.

"They have some good rims here," said Payne. "I'm going to shoot when I'm open. I was feeling it, so I said I would shoot it."

The Golden Eagles were never able to find their shot as they trailed for the entire game. TCU scored the first five points of the game and Marquette's first basket was by Kelly Schwerman. Katie O'Grady connected on two free throws to close the lead to one at 9-8 with 12:37 in the first half, but that was the closest Marquette would come.

Marquette (10-8, 2-4) shot a season low 21.5 percent (14-for-65) for the game and went down by 13 points late in the first half. The Golden Eagles did their best to stay in the game with free throw shooting, making 24-for-28 (85.7 percent) for the game. The second half proved to be the same story for both teams as Marquette remained cold and TCU stayed hot. Payne connected on five three-pointers in the second half and tied the record with just one second left.

A reason for Marquette's poor shooting proved to be TCU's tough defense inside as it recorded 14 blocks, one short of a C-USA record. Sandora Irvin led the way with a career high nine, three short of the C-USA record.

"It is definitely a challenge for us," said Rachel Klug. "We have to work through this and bounce back, it is a tough loss, but we have to see what we are made of."

Carolyn Kieger led Marquette with 14 points and recorded four assists, and O'Grady made Marquette's only two three-pointers, finishing with 10 points.

"We have to, in a very short time, rebound," said head coach Terri Mitchell. "We expect more of ourselves; we expect we can play better. It happens, when a team comes out and just 'has it;' when you make 15 threes in a game, that is incredible."

Katie Alsdurf was held scoreless for the first time this season.

"She was very ill before the game, but we made a decision to play her, players can play through that. We decided not to play her as much in the second half because of that," Mitchell added.

Marquette will face Houston on Sunday, Feb. 2 at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Action begins at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on WMLW-TV 41.